Building capacity via careers in sport

Graduates of today have so many more career options than past generations.

Gone are the days when a young child had to limit his or her ambitions to medicine, engineering, law, teaching, the protective services.

Sport has opened up significantly over the years when it comes to jobs. For many of us, even the serious athletes competing at an international level, sport was about pursuing a passion. There are many more young athletes today, however, pursuing their sports of choice as careers.

Dwight Yorke is our most famous professional footballer, making a global name for himself with his goal-scoring exploits for Manchester United. Yorke was a key player in the famous club’s memorable treble-winning campaign in 1998-99.

There is a long list of pro T&T athletes in this millennium. These men and women have earned a living in a variety of sports, including football, cricket, track and field, table tennis, volleyball, netball.

Careers in sport, though, are not limited to the playing fields. Turning the clock back to the 1980s, the idea of pursuing a career in sports journalism here in Trinidad and Tobago seemed far-fetched.

There were not many sports writers, and even fewer broadcasters. An aspiring sports broadcaster back in those days might have seen Raffie Knowles and Dave Lamy on TTT. Getting into the field, though, was difficult. But the media opened up in the 1990s; opportunities were created; and today, there are many more sports broadcasters and writers here in T&T.

In recent years, we have grown in our appreciation of what it takes for athletes to succeed on the international stage. The athletes themselves often use opportunities for media exposure to acknowledge the considerable contributions made by members of their support staff.

Coaching, of course, is key in the pursuit of excellence. There is so much more, though, that goes into the creation of world-class athletes. Strength and conditioning, massage therapy, sports science, psychology, physiotherapy and nutrition are among the crucial ingredients for athletes striving to achieve optimum performance.

Athletes appreciate what is brought to the table by their support staff. As a result, names like Dr Anyl Gopeesingh, Dr Terry Ali, Ian Sharpe, June Durham, Nicole Fuentes, Dr Ian Hypolite, Ismael Lopez Mastrapa, Aqiyla Gomez, Dr Margaret Ottley, Liza Mohan-Watts, Amanda Johnson, Tracey Pierre have come up in discussions and articles about successful elite-level athletes.

Sports law is also an important area in the sporting landscape, empowering athletes to challenge injustice.

Dr Emir Crowne and Matthew Gayle have been prominent personalities, using their legal expertise and experience to stand in the gap for disenfranchised athletes. Sporting careers have been saved through the intervention of Crowne and Gayle.

Another quality sports lawyer, Tyrone Marcus is now a lecturer at The University of the West Indies. Surely, some of the budding lawyers under his tutelage will be inspired to join the fight, lending their voices to the battle against injustice.

Yes, career options in the sports industry abound.

Qualified and competent support staff is a must if we are to ­consistently challenge for regional and international honours.

The Government, though, must do its part, providing funding for those keen to join the cadre of sports scientists, psychologists, coaches, etcetera, and then ensuring that attractive job offers await them on graduation.